Des Moines Register
05-31-07
ISU team chaplain: Politically incorrect, but it's a great idea
I want to applaud the courage of Iowa State University athletic director Jamie
Pollard and football Coach Gene Chizik for considering a plan to include a fulltime chaplain on the Cyclone football staff. This is not a politically correct proposal, so I'm sure it was not made without a lot of discussion and thought.
Our country would be much stronger if we had more leaders like Pollard and
Chizik, who are willing to stand up for what is right even when it is not popular.
- Ron Meendering, Des Moines.
The recent reporting about Iowa State University football coach Gene Chizik proposing to hire a chaplain reaffirms the old adage that good news does not sell
("ISU Chaplain Plan Faces Opposition," May 26). In the case of Chizik wanting a chaplain, what the media sell is a petition by a few members of the faculty at ISU who want to sing the song of separation of church and state.
I had the opportunity to hear Coach Chizik and ISU athletic director Jamie Pollard present the reasons why a chaplain is so necessary for young people today. It is not about forcing religion down the throats of a captive audience; it is not about religious conversion. It is about providing full-time counseling, spiritual and emotional, to young adults when it is needed and when they request it.
How can a full-time head football coach counsel a young man who is 1,000 miles from home when he learns that his mother has died or his best friend has been killed? No football coach is equipped to handle this crisis or many others that may seem small to us but are real at the moment.
I know Pollard has done his homework to make certain this project is done in a way that will not offend. It will be funded by private donations; a trained professional whom the football players will have had the opportunity to get to know and respect will be on call 24/7.
You can never please everyone, but I believe that if the whole story is presented to the public, the majority of people would welcome, without hesitation or concern, what Chizik is suggesting.
- Michael F. Lacey Jr., president, Cyclone Gridiron Club, Elkhart.

It is a disappointment to hear that there is some opposition to hiring a chaplain for the Iowa State University football team.
Athletes endure pressures from outside forces that most students will never have to endure. Sure, they will have run-of-the-mill alcohol and sexual temptations that every student faces, but I am talking about the pressure of being idolized.
These players are kids, sons and classmates, just like the rest of the population, but need a positive influence in their lives that only a chaplain can add.
In a time of transition like the ISU football program is experiencing, there will be uneasiness and anxiety. What better time to have someone on staff who is experienced and trained to deal with the emotions these athletes must be experiencing right now.
- R.M. MacDougall, Urbandale.